Written Answers

Tuesday 29 August 2000

Scottish Executive

Cancer

Mrs Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to extend the cervical cancer screening programme to women over the age of 60 and to reduce the number of deaths from cervical cancer through such routine screening.

Susan Deacon: Cervical cancer screening has been well established in Scotland since the late 1980s and eligible women aged 20-60 are routinely invited for a cervical smear at least once every five years. Women may be offered a smear test outwith the age range if clinically indicated or if a woman requests it. This age range was determined as a result of a review in 1985 of the evidence which indicated that the most benefit from screening was in this age range due to the natural history of cervical cancer. There are no plans to extend the age of routine invitation.

  Since 1986, there has been a 34% drop in incidence and in mortality of invasive cervical cancer and much of this can be attributed to the effectiveness of the screening programme.

Drug Misuse

Kay Ullrich (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many registered heroin users there are in the Fife Health Board area and how this compares with other health board areas.

Angus Mackay: The specific information requested is not available centrally.

  The number of new problem drug users resident in the Fife Health Board area reporting the use of heroin to the Scottish Drug Misuse Database during the year ending 31 March 2000 was 275, or 64% of all new cases in the area. The equivalent percentages for neighbouring health boards and for Scotland were:

  


Forth Valley


75%




Greater Glasgow


73%




Lanarkshire


72%




Lothian


39%




Tayside


23%




Scotland


65%




  The Executive is currently funding a national prevalence study which aims to provide estimates of problem drug misuse at both a national and local level, including health board areas. The findings from this will be available in July 2001.

Drug Misuse

Kay Ullrich (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many registered heroin users reside in the Kirkcaldy/Levenmouth areas within the Fife Health Board area.

Angus Mackay: The specific information requested is not available centrally.

  The number of new problem drug users resident in the Kirkcaldy/ Levenmouth areas reporting use of heroin to the Scottish Drug Misuse Database area during the year ending 31 March 2000 was 47 in the Kirkcaldy and 110 in the Levenmouth areas, or 78% and 73% respectively of all new cases in each area.

Emergency Services

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether rural communities have any difficulties accessing emergency services and what action it is taking to address any such problems.

Angus MacKay: Emergency services are available in all parts of Scotland, but attendance times are inevitably longer in more rural areas. The emergency services keep these matters under constant review.

Employment

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many manufacturing jobs were created through inward investment in Dundee in each of the last five years and how many manufacturing jobs created through inward investment were lost in Dundee in each of these years.

Henry McLeish: Locate in Scotland does not keep records of how many jobs are created by individual companies each year. The figures, therefore, reflect the number of jobs planned by a company when its decision to proceed with a project was made. In addition, the figures refer only to projects in which Locate in Scotland and its partners had significant involvement in attracting the project to Scotland. The figures below relate to projects where the company made a decision to locate or expand in Dundee and where manufacturing is the main activity carried out. All jobs in manufacturing projects are not necessarily manufacturing jobs.

  


1995-96


122




1996-97


11




1997-98


0




1998-99


30




1999-2000


167




  The job losses in manufacturing jobs are based on figures supplied by the Scottish Executive and relate to jobs lost by companies whose ultimate parent is based outwith Scotland regardless of whether the company was initially attracted to Scotland by LiS or its partners. The number of jobs lost in Dundee since 1995 by companies whose primary activity is manufacturing and whose ultimate parents are based outwith Scotland are listed below:

  


1995-96


39




1996-97


0




1997-98


0




1998-99


333




1999-2000


107

Employment

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many manufacturing jobs created through inward investment were lost in each of the last five years and how many of these were in Glasgow.

Henry McLeish: Records of manufacturing jobs created by inward investors which have been lost over a five-year period are not held centrally and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

  The numbers given for loss of manufacturing jobs are based on figures supplied by the Scottish Executive and relate to jobs lost by companies whose ultimate parent is based outwith Scotland regardless of whether the company was initially attracted to Scotland by LiS or its partners. The number of jobs lost in Glasgow since 1995 by companies whose primary activity is manufacturing and whose ultimate parents are based outwith Scotland are listed below:

  


1995-96


93




1996-97


1,220




1997-98


400




1998-99


68




1999-2000


167




  Over the same period, Locate in Scotland and its partners helped attract 776 manufacturing jobs to Glasgow and a total of 9,313 jobs across all sectors.

Employment

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many manufacturing jobs there were in Scotland in each of the last five years and how many of these were in (a) Glasgow and (b) Dundee.

Henry McLeish: Figures for Glasgow and Dundee are available from September 1995 to September 1998. In addition, an estimate for September 1999 is given for Scotland in the table below:

  Employee Jobs in Manufacturing, 1995-99 (000)

  


Year


Scotland


Glasgow


Dundee




1995


321


34.7


10.6




1996


316


31.3


12.1




1997


322


32.0


10.6




1998


316


31.9


12.0




1999


300

 
 



  Source: Office for National Statistics, Annual Employment Survey, and quarterly employee job estimates.

Hepatitis C

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-6774 by Susan Deacon on 14 July 2000, whether it will provide a date for publication of the Hepatitis C and Heat Treatment of Blood Products for Haemophiliacs report.

Susan Deacon: I am currently considering the report on Hepatitis C and Heat Treatment of Blood Products for Haemophiliacs in the mid 1980s and remain committed to making the findings available to the Health and Community Care Committee as soon as possible.

Justice

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider using wage or benefit arrestment as a means of recouping fines from offenders who have defaulted.

Mr Jim Wallace: Under the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, the courts already have extensive powers to recover fines (including possible seizure of earnings). We have no plans to modify those powers at present.

Justice

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider introducing conditional offers, similar to those used for speeding offences, for other offences.

Mr Jim Wallace: Conditional offers may already be made by Procurators Fiscal for crimes and offences other than road traffic offences. There is extensive use of this power for less serious crimes and offences.

Local Government

Alex Johnstone (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether Angus Council requires its permission to change the rules regarding eligibility for standing for community council elections.

Mr Frank McAveety: No. It is for individual local authorities to administer the community council schemes for their own area including arrangements for elections.

Mental Health

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to provide funding on a longer-term basis to voluntary organisations offering support to people with mental health problems which currently receive funding on an annual or other short-term basis, such as the Genesis project operated by the National Schizophrenia Foundation in Dumfries.

Iain Gray: The Executive is committed to a strategic approach to its funding of the voluntary sector, and is committed to three-year grant offers. We are also working with other funders to develop a stable funding environment, including discussing with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities arrangements for introducing three-year budget settlements to assist councils’ budget planning, including their support for voluntary organisations.

  For projects like Genesis, whose main activities over the last three years were funded from the European Social Fund assistance and which has now ceased, we have recognised the need to provide gap funding until such time as the new Objective 3 scheme begins later this year. We have put in place an interim funding scheme, and have invited voluntary sector agencies to apply for assistance, including the Genesis project.

Ministerial Correspondence

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it provides a written response to all letters it receives and within what timescale.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Executive endeavours to reply to all correspondence it receives, whether addressed to Ministers or officials. The target for answering general correspondence is 20 working days. For those letters to which Ministers reply, the targets are for an acknowledgement to be issued within two working days of receipt of the letter; for a substantive reply to be issued within 17 working days of receipt, and for an interim reply to be issued where it is evident that a final reply cannot be issued within the 17 working day target.

Police

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights into Scots law will have on police surveillance operations and informant handling.

Mr Jim Wallace: The need to ensure compliance with the Convention on these matters is recognised and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Scotland) Bill currently before the Scottish Parliament will address this.

Police

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the financial impact of the health and safety at work regulations, enacted in 1974 and applied to police forces in 1998, was in each police force in financial years 1998-99 and 1999-2000 and what additional resources it has allocated to each police force to meet any costs arising from the implementation of those regulations.

Mr Jim Wallace: The information requested is not held centrally. The application of health and safety at work regulations is an operational matter and therefore the responsibility of the relevant chief constable.

Police

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much the registration and monitoring of sex offenders has cost each police force in each financial year since registration was enacted and what additional resources it has given to each police force in each of these years to enable them to carry out regular sex offender profiling and ensure that offenders who are released from prison are registered and regularly monitored without affecting other front-line police services.

Mr Jim Wallace: The information requested is not held centrally. It is for chief constables to allocate resources according to priorities and demands in their force area. Funding from the Executive is not, therefore, earmarked for specific purposes.

Police

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much additional funding it will allocate to each police force to assist in the establishment of race crime units.

Mr Jim Wallace: Race crime units have been suggested in a response to the consultation on our action plan for implementing the recommendations in the MacPherson Report on the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry. The suggestion is being considered by the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Steering Group in Scotland but there are no current plans to establish such units.

Police

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which police forces had a financial deficit at end of (a) 1998-99 and (b) 1999-2000; what deficit it anticipates each police force will have at the end 2001-02, and how it intends to address any such deficits.

Mr Jim Wallace: The information requested is not held centrally. It is the responsibility of police authorities to set their force budgets and to monitor expenditure.

Police

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what capital resources, in real terms, were allocated to each police force in each year from 1995-1996 to 1999-2000 and what the allocations will be in 2001-02.

Mr Jim Wallace: There are two sources of capital allocated to police forces. The capital allocations, issued under section 94 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and financed by borrowing, determines the amount of capital expenditure a police authority may undertake in a given year. In addition, five forces use revenue to fund capital expenditure - known as capital from current revenue (CFCR). CFCR is funded by a combination of police grant and general revenue. It is used mainly for expenditure on vehicles and other items with a relatively short asset life. Forces may also use capital receipts e.g. arising from the disposal of assets to augment their capital spending. Capital allocations for 2001-02 have not yet been determined.

  The information requested, at 2000-01 prices, is shown in the table below:

  Police Capital Resources: Section 94 and CFCR at 2000-01 Prices

  

 

1995-96 


1996-97 


1997-98 


1998-99 


1999-2000 


2000-01 




Force 


S94 


CFCR 


S94 


CFCR 


S94 


CFCR 


S94 


CFCR 


S94 


CFCR 


S94 


CFCR 




Central 


515 


525 


962 


411 


934 


336 


444 


282 


352 


316 


2,722 


310 




D&G 


248 


177 


827 


164 


803 


135 


817 


255 


666 


252 


705 


260 




Fife 


5,115 


0 


584 


0 


1,458 


0 


1,182 


0 


1,012 


0 


765 


0 




Grampian 


276 


1,208 


668 


723 


971 


910 


255 


787 


1,262 


767 


444 


775 




L&B 


900 


1,378 


1,458 


1,229 


1,415 


1,093 


1,052 


1,090 


1,301 


1,022 


2,833 


1,000 




Northern 


1,462 


0 


2,077 


0 


3,031 


0 


7,074 


0 


2,772 


0 


1,198 


0 




Strathclyde 


6,784 


0 


11,267 


0 


10,931 


0 


6,550 


0 


9,951 


0 


8,726 


0 




Tayside 


1,198 


0 


1,936 


205 


1,841 


183 


1,242 


159 


849 


153 


350 


150 




Total 


16,948 


3,288 


19,779 


2,732 


21,385 


2,658 


18,618 


2,573 


18,164 


2,510 


17,743 


2,495

Police

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the anticipated costs of the European Convention on Human Rights will be to each police force in 2001-02 in terms of additional capital requirements.

Mr Jim Wallace: No such estimate of costs has been made. Capital allocations are issued annually on the basis of bids submitted by forces. Following the distribution of the allocations it is for forces to determine their spending priorities.

Police

Karen Whitefield (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown, by division, of the number of additional police officers that Strathclyde Police will be able to recruit as a result of the additional funding announced in May.

Mr Jim Wallace: As a consequence of the additional funding for forces which I announced on 18 May and the extra officers being provided at force level through the funding for the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency, Strathclyde Police will have additional funding for the equivalent of 195 extra officers. However, decisions on the deployment of officers within his force area is an operational matter for the chief constable.

Prison Service

Nick Johnston (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-7755 by Mr Jim Wallace on 13 July 2000, whether it will publish the targets for reducing positive drug tests among inmates in Scottish prisons.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. Mr Cameron’s response is as follows:

  Yes, we have done so. The Scottish Prison Service’s new drug strategy, published in June 2000, sets a target of year-on-year reductions in the positive testing rate for prisoners misusing drugs within prison. Targets for previous years were published in the SPS Corporate Plans in 1998 and 1999.

Rail Network

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of the difficulties encountered by southbound disabled rail travellers at Lockerbie station and whether it has had any discussions with Railtrack or other bodies on the provision of disabled access to the station’s southbound platform.

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will refer the issue of disabled access at Lockerbie station to the Transport Advisory Group announced in March, to advise it on the transport needs of people with disabilities.

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what target it has set for disabled access to be available on all platforms at railway stations.

Sarah Boyack: Disability discrimination is a reserved matter. This applies to disabled access at railway stations. The outstanding provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, concerning access to goods, services and facilities, are being implemented by the UK Government between now and 2004.

Rail Safety

Fiona McLeod (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what powers it has or will have to enforce implementation on Scotland’s railways of the safety initiatives announced as a result of the UK rail safety summit.

Sarah Boyack: Under Schedule 5 of the Scotland Act 1998, the provision and regulation of railway services, which includes rail safety, is a reserved matter. These are the responsibility of the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

  I have received detailed briefings from ScotRail, Railtrack, Virgin Trains and Great North Eastern Railways outlining further safety measures the companies intend to introduce on the Scottish railway network.

Tourism

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans the Scottish Tourist Board has to promote the tourist industry in West Lothian and Linlithgow.

Henry McLeish: None, promotion of the tourism industry in West Lothian and Linlithgow is the responsibility of Edinburgh and Lothians Tourist Board.